April 2011

This particular band of cheeky Scottish rockers also happens to have an alter ego—Found is half rock ‘n roll and half experimental arts collective. Like a brain, it’s clear that each side influences the other. This is evidenced by their musical side project, Cybraphon the Autonomous Emotional Robot Band, and their second full-length album, factorycraft. It features clever lyrics and swelling melodies, occasionally embracing sparse electronic elements.

Amazon customers and Rdio fans alike—it’s now even easier to buy an Rdio Web or Unlimited subscription with Amazon Payments. Anyone who has an Amazon account can now use their Amazon Payments information as a secure payment method—it makes subscribing to Rdio a smooth proposition.

And with that sorted, you can then focus on the best part of Rdio—listening to, discovering and sharing great music.

Playlist Notes

Poly Styrene, Generation Indigo: Poised for a career comeback, fans are mourning the April 25th loss of punk legend and X-ray Spex frontwoman Poly Styrene. Her solo album, Generation Indigo, is all the better and bittersweet for the loss of its talented creator. A full statement about Poly Styrene’s passing is on her website.

Kraak & Smaak, Electric Hustle: The heavily onomatopoeic names of Kraak & Smaak hint at the duo’s percussive take on dance music. Electric Hustle, their third studio album, expands their sound to filling the room, or perhaps just your headphones.

Thao & Mirah, Thao & Mirah: One has a sweet, melodic voice, while the other has quick and magical guitar-playing fingers. Thao Nguyen (of Thao and the Get Down Stay Down) linked up with Mirah for an album that features their best qualities in energetic ballads.

You may know him as a DJ at LA’s popular Power 106 radio station — when he’s not on-air, DJ Felli Fel makes music for after-hours party time. Featuring artists Akon, Pitbull and Jermaine Dupri, Boomerang is the first single off DJ Felli Fel’s upcoming album, Go DJ!

Rdio is the only place you can stream Boomerang for the next few weeks, so queue it up and have some fun.

Glenn Dicker and Tor Hansen, friends since kindergarten, took their passion for music and transformed it from a basement project to a successful international Label. Since 1996, the duo has remained dedicated to putting out the best music they can find. Their impressive roster of artists isn’t bound by genre or style—queue up any of their artists, from guitar-strumming soloists like Loudon Wainwright III to electronic indie pop like The Apples in Stereo. Check out their website to get a taste of what this soulful label has to offer.

We’re sure you’re familiar with the old saying “Give a listener a song and she’ll listen for a couple minutes. Teach a listener to search on Rdio, and she’ll rock out forever.” This week we’re here to help you fine-tune your tune-finding skills.

Your jumping-off point for Search is, of course, the search bar itself:

Type the name of an artist, album, song, or playlist into the search bar, and results will magically appear in a dropdown list, separated by category.

To see more, select Show All Results (or hit your Enter key), and browse through the tabs at the top of the Search page.

Pro Tip: When searching for a tune, you can also see all user-created Playlists that include the song—just click the song title, then select the Playlists tab.

“Nice tips, but where are the tricks?” you may say. Don’t worry, we’ve got some up our sleeve.

Trying to find something but don’t want to go through 10 pages of results? You can narrow things down by putting quotation marks around your search term, or use the hyphen character (-) to exclude words from the search. (“The The” is a favorite search-befuddling band.)

Still seeing too much noise? Check out more search-related tips in our Help site. And if you still have questions or feedback, we’d love to hear from you.

Playlist Notes

Dengue Fever - Cannibal CourtshipIt started like a story out of Hollywood—L.A. brothers seek singer for Cambodian-inspired rock. They recruit a former-Cambodian pop-star turned stateside resident and the magic happens. Two albums later, Dengue Fever evolves fully into a groovy and original take on their rocking third album, Cannibal Courtship.

Azymuth - AuroraDon’t let the opening track, with serious Mr. Rogers Neighborhood-like chimes, throw you off. Disco and samba masters Azymuth have created music for over 30 years, inspiring modern musicians and lounge singers alike.

Started after high school, Yellowcard has been creating music for 14 years. Their latest, When You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes, is their 7th studio album—it’s sophisticated beyond what could potentially be called a band’s gawky teenage years. Full of upbeat, frenetic melodies about relationships and growing-up, Yellowcard keeps it fresh. Below we have our Five Questions with the Band, as well as their playlist of pre-show jams—oh, it’s good.

Five Questions with Yellowcard

Who do you think is an important musician that most people have never heard of before?Person’s Name: Sara Watkins. She played violin and sang in Nickel Creek but now is making her own records. She’s amazing.

Playlist Notes

Dengue Fever, Cannibal Courtship: It started like a story out of Hollywood—L.A. brothers seek singer for Cambodian-inspired rock. They recruit a former-Cambodian pop-star turned stateside resident and the magic happens. Two albums later, Dengue Fever evolves fully into a groovy and original take on their rocking third album, Cannibal Courtship.

Azymuth, Aurora: Don’t let the opening track, with serious Mr. Rogers Neighborhood-like chimes, throw you off. Disco and samba masters Azymuth have created music for over 30 years, inspiring modern musicians and lounge singers alike.

Rdio is a social jukebox with over 30 million songs to discover, play, and share. Play what you want, when you want, or turn on a station for a perfect mix of songs. Listen anywhere — the web, your phone, even offline — and follow friends and artists to see what they’re playing.